What is it you imagine to be 'getting at' here?
Congress shall have power does not infer/imply/state that Congress MUST use said power.
Additionally, said 'power' cited is LIMITED well beyond its current usage and pretense.
Regard$,
--MJ
"To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States;" that is to say, "to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the general welfare;" for the laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. Congress are not to lay taxes ad libitum, for any purpose they please; but only to pay the debts, or provide for the welfare, of the Union. In like manner, they are not to do any thing they please, to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase, not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which might be for the good of the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they pleased. It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will hear either of two meanings, to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect. It is known that the very power now proposed as a means, was rejected as an end by the Convention which formed the Constitution
-- Thomas Jefferson ,1791
At 09:50 PM 7/22/2011, you wrote:
House Republicans, Democrats, & President Obama are in immediate
danger of completely violating Article 1, Section 8 of the
constitution of the United States of America which says clearly that:
"The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties,
Imposts and Excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common
defence and general welfare of the United States".
The constitution does not make provision for any exceptions. It does
not say that Congress, or the President, can in any way not do what
the Constitution empowers them to do. It implies positively that they
must do what it empowers them to do. The constitution needs to be
understood as guided by the principles contained within the
Declaration of Independence, as the document providing the legal basis
consistent with the principles contained within the Declaration, which
document reads as follows, :
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness..... (text
omitted).... it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to
provide new guards for their future security."
We cannot possibly see, and it is unthinkable that any thinking,
rational, American could possibly see the events taking place in
United States politics, in relation to the nation's budgetary needs,
as those are being discussed currently, as consistent with those most
foundational principles of American law. It is unthinkable and the
worst possible example that America could now give to other nations,
other peoples, in the world community, as to how to meet those
fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence as it is
enacted into the details of the Constitution of the United States,
meant to enable those most fundamental principles into living
realities. That failure of example comes at the worst possible time.
It is unthinkable that potential default on the debt, failure to find
acceptable means for raising revenues, cutting barely adequate and in
some instances inadequate entitlement programs, services, even defence
at a time of greatest and increasing dangers to the safety, security,
of the United States, in violation of fundamentals to the facilitation
of any real "pursuit of happiness" for massive numbers of Americans,
is constitutional. It cannot be constitutional. It must not be
constitutional. Reason must prevail in that realization of
unconstitutionality and as to how that fact violates the most
fundamental principles of all, enshrined in the Declaration upon which
America's political system, its ideals, its progress, its foreign
policies, its domestic affairs, are all entirely founded.
It is a failure that must not happen. It is a failure that America
must find a way to avoid.
We must ask why a committee has not been struck by the House in
conjunction with the President of the United States, Barack Obama,
that would bring together the best minds to find a new solution to the
debt, to building new revenue streams, to revitalizing the economy,
consistent with the principles of the Declaration of Independence and
of the Constitution of the United States. That committee ought to be
comprised of the best minds, from right and left wing economic
viewpoints, non partisan, Republicans, Democrats and others who excel
on matters of direct relevance, to rebuild the economic basis to
assure that what the Declaration and the Constitution demand of
Congress and the President, are realizable and are realized in fact.
That debts are paid, revenue streams built, by means of progressive
innovation, entitlements improved rather than curtailed or cut,
programs improved rather than reduced or cut, such that "the common
defence and general welfare of the United States" of "we the people"
is served according to how the Declaration and the Constitution both
demand that that ultimate purpose of government be properly served.
A nation that can bring together the best minds in engineering and
science to build nuclear weapons, the atom bomb, the hydrogen bomb,
the neutron bomb, can surely bring together the best minds in
economics, finance, and business, to resolve its fiscal difficulties,
positively, not negatively. Not by cuts to programs, entitlements,
services, security, well being, but positively to maintain and improve
programs, entitlements, services, security and well being, by means of
improved revenue streams, rebuilding what is broken, failing,
inadequate, in the economy and in government finance, to meet national
ideals, before those ideals themselves are perished into being mere
words on paper, with no meaning, as the world watches, no longer
taking the principles contained in those words, seriously, because
America does not take them seriously enough, and is not exemplary
enough in its own conduct of its own fiscal, government, affairs.
America can build rockets to send men and machines into space, but it
cannot seem to find a way to deal with its deficit, and it cannot seem
to find a way to further, defend, secure and facilitate "the pursuit
of happiness" and other ideals upon which it is fundamentally based.
That is an absurd contradiction. America must be able to do better at
economics, at meeting fiscal needs, at furthering 'the common defence
and general welfare of the United States" of "we the people" of the
United States, in terms of assuring life, liberty, and pursuit of
happiness. The current situation of fiscal crisis ultimately imperils
those fundamental principles for many, if not most, whether in the
short or long term, and most of all it imperils how the world views
America, its ideals and its means and ways to the pursuit and
achievement of its ideals. It puts America into question.
Bob Ezergailis
Hamilton, Canada
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment